Comprehensive reform will likely require an investment of $1 trillion or more over the 2010–19 period to achieve coverage for all and implement critical system reforms. It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option...

President Barack Obama told top congressional Democrats Thursday that he was putting his political capital behind health care reform and reminded them that it was crucial for both chambers to pass legislation this month. Congress returns this week with mounting pressure on Democrats to meet President Obama’s mid-August deadline for passing health-care legislation...

The United States spends more on health care than anyone "but unfortunately the quality of care is going down," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a conference call last week with regional reporters. The percentage of Americans with private health insurance has hit its lowest mark in 50 years, according to two new government reports...

The House Republican Leadership is continuing a trend begun last Congress, “Just Saying No” to legislation which invests in clean energy, creates new clean energy jobs, and reduces our dependence on foreign oil.

Congress returns this week to face an agenda stuffed with difficult, high-profile issues that will test the ability of Democrats and the White House to deliver health care, energy and spending legislation while simultaneously contending with a Supreme Court nomination.

House and Senate lawmakers working on a major overhaul of the health-care system have reached a familiar juncture in their effort to reshape one of the largest sectors of the economy. With more questions than answers arising in the debate over his healthcare proposal, President Obama is looking to pressure Congress by taking his push for reform back on the road...

While headlines talk about a "fight" over the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court that may never develop, a much bigger battle is about to break out over President Obama's No. 1 domestic priority, health care.

Congressional leaders abandoned efforts yesterday to win passage of the D.C. voting rights bill this summer after city leaders wouldn't withdraw their opposition to an amendment that would do away with the District's strict gun-control laws.